by Nick Drew | Tue 15 Oct 2013
Liebherr long reach with added tiltrotator factor
Of course we know all too well that our Swedish friends like to put tiltrotators on nearly every machine that is sold in their market up to 32 tons, but there are also variations on the theme, including the fitment to long reach machines like this one that has appeared in the countries capital city recently.
Some of my Swedish friends over at the Maskinisten.net website, have been in touch to tell me about a long reach Liebherr R954C Multi User that is working somewhere in Stockholm. As they all know that I am a massive fan and enthusiast of the tiltrotator concept, they wanted to tell me that this machine is also fitted with an Indexator RT60, which comes complete with a grapple module.
The big Liebherr is owned by Cliffton/Peab, who are a large multi-faceted company who are based in Angelholm and operate throughout Sweden on medium to large construction projects. They run a large fleet of plant consisting of dozers, excavators and articulated haulers.
Although details are sketchy, it is believed that this machine is one of the company’s latest additions to the fleet. Weighing in at 63 tonnes (63,000kg), the Liebherr has a reach of 24 metres, and on this deep inner city drainage job, is digging to a depth of 18.5 metres. The machine is fitted with a larger than normal, heavy duty undercarriage, in terms of length and width, for better stability when working at full stretch and the machine has a lifting capacity of 2 tonnes (2,000kg). Power comes from Liebherr’s own D936L diesel engine which puts out 326hp at 1800 rpm.
I have spotted one of these tiltrotator equipped long reach machines before in Sweden, last year in fact, when as a guest of Engcon, I attended the Maskinexpo trade fair. On my way back to Arlanda airport on the coach, I passed this Caterpillar 330D machine, which was equipped with an Engcon unit. Apologies for the poor quality of this shot, which I took with my phone from the seat on the bus.
It must be a great feeling using a tiltrotator on a long reach machine, as it is on a standard excavator, but one might need a pair of opera glasses to see what you are doing at full reach! We thank Alexander Lipkin, Rickard Sundkvist, for the heads up on this machine, and Stefan Eldeby for the reproduction of his photos.